Today in Washington D. C. - May 1, 2009

Supreme Court Justice David Souter has informed the White House of his intention to retire and return to New Hampshire. He'll remain on the court until his replacement is confirmed. Justice Souter, 69 years old, has been a member of the court's liberal wing and was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1990 by Republican President George H.W. Bush.

The Senate resumed consideration of S. 896, a housing bill, which will also provide more money and borrowing authority to the FDIC. Yesterday the Senate rejected an amendment by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) to add a provision known as “cramdown” to the measure by a voted of 45-51. The Wall Street Journal explains cramdown in an editorial today. Also yesterday, the Senate confirmed Thomas Strickland to be assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife.

The Los Angeles Times reports today, “Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that he expected staunch opposition in Congress to the Obama administration's plans to release some of the Chinese Muslims detained at Guantanamo into the United States. Confirming the plans for the first time, Gates said that the administration intended to release some of the 17 Chinese Uighurs into the U.S. as part of the process of closing the prison, although he added that a final decision had not been made.”

Gates confirmed that “some” of these terrorist-trained detainees might be released during questioning from Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. Asked if the plan was to simply “release them in the United States…not to be incarcerated, but just to be released,” Gates did not rule out the possibility. Further, according to AFP, “Even after the Guantanamo prison is closed, the United States may decide to keep up to 100 inmates under detention as they cannot be tried but are too dangerous to release, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told lawmakers on Thursday.”

The Wall Street Journal adds, “The remarks drew criticism from several lawmakers, who made clear that they don't want any of the men transferred to their states. “‘I fully expect to have 535 pieces of legislation before this is over saying “not in my district, not in my state,”’ Mr. Gates said. “‘You can count on it,’ replied Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), the Senate minority leader.”

Sen. McConnell told Secretary Gates that he understood the dilemma, but that it was created by the administration’s decision to mandate an arbitrary closing date for the facility before it had a plan for what to do with the inmates being held there. Sen. McConnell said, “The previous administration also said they wanted to close Guantanamo. The difference is, this administration actually put a date on it and actually has to answer the question: what are you going to do with them?” (See here for video of this exchange)

The decision to close Guantanamo is clearly a controversial one and one that the public is uneasy with. According to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 50% disapprove of the administration’s order to close the facility. Some Democrats in Congress may be getting the message. Politico reports, “Democrats signaled Thursday that they will likely drop language sought by the Pentagon to authorize the use of war funds to relocate the inmates.”

While it’s up to the Obama administration to determine what will be done with the Guantanamo inmates, it appears that they’ve set a deadline to close the detention center without a complete plan of what to do with the dangerous people housed there.

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